Merlin's Little Brother
by roseannacharlotte
Summary: Mordred looks like Merlin. Merlin decides to hide Mordred by pretending that they are brothers. When the other druid is killed Mordred decides to stay with Merlin as his brother. How will things change with Merlin's 'little brother' in Camelot? AU from Beginning of the End. Merlin is a little OOC.


"Help me. Somebody please; they're going to kill me." The child's voice reverberated through Merlin's head as he walked his usual route from Arthur's chamber to the laundry. An instinct within Merlin told the warlock that the voice's owner was not far away.

"Hold on. I'm coming," he sent out mentally as he hid his laundry basket in a conveniently located alcove.

"Hurry!" the voice was scared. Time came to a complete standstill around the warlock as his magical instincts kicked in. The young warlock strode quickly into the courtyard and instantly spotted a young druid boy being chased by guards of Camelot. Merlin grabbed the boys hand and pulled him out of time. The boy cried out and tried to jerk away.

"You're okay," Merlin told him mentally, hoping that this way of speaking would calm the boy. The boy stopped struggling when he heard Merlin's telepathic message and looked around him in awe.

"You froze time," the boy commented, speaking aloud for the first time.

"Yes," replied Merlin, glad to speak aloud. The effort required to keep up the spell and carry on a mental conversation was beginning to give the poor warlock a headache. He needed to get the boy somewhere safe so he could release the spell, otherwise he'd end up with a migraine and he didn't need to be dealing with the Prat in that condition.

"Come," said Merlin, holding out a hand to the boy. The druid boy took the older warlock's hand and allowed him to lead him away from the courtyard. Merlin pulled the boy into the alcove where he had placed his laundry basket. His first impression of the boy had been his similarity to Merlin. The young warlock intended to capitalise on this impression to hide the child under the noses of the King, Prince and the guards. Thankfully one of Merlin's spare neckerchiefs was in the laundry basket. Pulling the red square out of the basket Merlin asked the boy to remove his cloak then tied the fabric round his neck. Then Merlin shoved the cloak to the bottom of the basket where it couldn't be seen.

"Now," said Merlin, once everything had been sorted. "Here's the plan. We're going to pretend that we're brothers. So I'm Merlin, my mother is Hunith and I come from a village called Ealdor. What's your name?"

"Mordred," replied the boy.

"Come along then Mordred. You can stay with Gaius whilst I'm working." The two young warlocks set off towards the physician's chambers, making an effort to act as if they were brothers.

Gaius was suspicious when Merlin presented him his 'little brother' and asked him to keep an eye on the younger boy.

"Oh and Mordred? No more wandering off!" was Merlin's parting remark.

When Merlin returned to the physician's chambers later that evening, Gaius was waiting for him with an eyebrow raised. Merlin winced.

"The boy isn't really your brother is he?" Gaius began. "Mordred is the druid boy the king and the knights are looking for." This wasn't a question. Merlin nodded. "They've caught the other druid. He's to be executed at dawn," continued Gaius. Mordred was asleep so didn't hear the physician's comments.

"I know. Arthur told me. He didn't seem that happy about it though. And rumour has it Morgana is fuming." As he finished speaking Merlin suddenly put a hand to his head as if it pained him. "I have to go do something Gaius. I'll be back shortly."

The young warlock left the chambers and set off through the castle in the direction of the dragon's cave. Kilgarrah was not happy about something, judging by the tone in his voice as he called out to Merlin.

"You must hand the boy over to the king," the dragon told Merlin as soon as he reached the cave it resided in.

"Why on earth would I do that?" retorted the warlock.

"The boy is destined to kill Arthur," said the dragon.

"He's just a boy. I cannot hand him over to his death. Besides fate isn't set in stone," argued Merlin. "I won't listen to anything you have to say against him and in fact, I will make him my younger brother in truth!"

"You intend to blood bond with him?" questioned the dragon.

"Yes," replied Merlin. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see my brother." Merlin swept out of the cave as dramatically as he could. Just to annoy the dragon of course. Certainly not because it was fun.

The execution took place at dawn the following morning and Mordred wept for the man he had always called Father.

"What am I going to do now?" he asked Merlin with a sob.

"You could be my brother. For real I mean."

"How?" Mordred stopped crying to ask though he was still sniffling quite a bit.

"There's a spell. It's known as blood bonding. If we did it, you would be my brother and could stay with me in Camelot or go to my mother in Ealdor."

"I want to do it. I want to stay with you, Emrys."


End file.
